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Biotic and Abiotic Constraints on the Decomposition of Fagus sylvatica Leaf Litter Along an Altitudinal Gradient in Contrasting Land-Use Types

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Abstract

Climate change can affect the process of carbon cycling and leaf litter decomposition in multiple ways, both directly and indirectly, though the strength and direction of this relationship is often context dependent. In this experiment, we followed decomposition of a standard litter type—senescent leaves of Fagus sylvatica collected from a single location—along a 1000 m altitudinal gradient of four sites over 2.5 years. To control the edaphic conditions, we transplanted intact turf mesocosms from three different land-use types [densely wooded, sparsely wooded, and unwooded (UW) pastures] from the highest altitude site into UW pastures along the altitudinal gradient from the moist, cool high-elevation site to the dry, warm low-elevation site, using shade cloth to mimic the light conditions in the original habitats. Decomposition in the drier UW pasture mesocosms increased with altitude, likely because of higher moisture at the highest sites. Decomposition in the more mesic mesocosms from sparsely and densely wooded sites was insensitive to altitude, suggesting an overriding moisture, rather than temperature, constraint on decomposition across these sites. The functional composition of decomposer microbial communities (fungal/bacterial ratio) was similarly insensitive to altitude. Our findings bring substantial evidence for the controlling role of soil moisture on litter decomposition, as well as for the indirect effects of climate through changes in the decomposer community.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the CCES (Competence Center Environment and Sustainability of the ETH Domain, Switzerland) as part of the Mountland project. Arboretum National d’Aubonne, Commune of St-George (VD), Parc Jurassien Vaudois, and Fondation Les Bois Chamblard provided logistics and infrastructure support. We are grateful to Laurent Grasset for introducing us to the PLFA technique.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENAC, Laboratory of Ecological Systems ECOS, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, Station 2, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Konstantin Gavazov, Robert Mills, Thomas Spiegelberger, Jonathan Lenglet & Alexandre Buttler

  2. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Site Lausanne, Station 2, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Konstantin Gavazov, Robert Mills, Jonathan Lenglet & Alexandre Buttler

  3. UR EMGR Mountain Ecosystems, Irstea, 2 Rue Papeterie, BP 76, 38402, Saint-Martin d’Hères, France

    Thomas Spiegelberger

  4. University of Franche-Comté – CNRS, UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement, 16 Route de Gray, 25030, Besançon Cedex, France

    Alexandre Buttler

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  1. Konstantin Gavazov
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  2. Robert Mills
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  3. Thomas Spiegelberger
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  5. Alexandre Buttler
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Correspondence to Konstantin Gavazov.

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Author contributions

KG, TS, and AB designed the study, KG and JL collected field data and performed laboratory analyses. KG analyzed data and wrote the manuscript with contributions from RM, TS, and AB.

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Gavazov, K., Mills, R., Spiegelberger, T. et al. Biotic and Abiotic Constraints on the Decomposition of Fagus sylvatica Leaf Litter Along an Altitudinal Gradient in Contrasting Land-Use Types. Ecosystems 17, 1326–1337 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-014-9798-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-014-9798-9

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